A very very Junior Captain, way down the seniority list, Horatio Hornblower is given his first command, the trim Atropos. In his zest for his assignment, he performs some minor miracles, and wins attention from his chief and from his sovereign. His duties take him into strange situations, and the greater part of this book traces the adventure of recovering sunken treasure under the guns of a Turkish fort, and of escaping with the greater part of the loot. There is, perhaps, less of battle -- and more personal story and a background of unusual incident, and it all adds up to rounding out the character of a famous and popular personage in literature.